Bonhams Automobiles d'Exception a Retromobile Auction Results

Auction Location: Retromobile, Porte Versailles, Paris

Auction Date: Saturday 23 January 2010

The 1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia, which infamously lay submerged in Lake Como for more than 70 years, fetched 260,500 Euros (£229,240), triple pre-sale estimate, at the Retromobile auction, reports Richard Hudson-Evans. A number of telephone bidders vied with those at the exhibition for the catch. The winning European bidder was representing the Peter Mullin Collection in California who will show the water-ravaged curio in its present distressed condition in his museum, whereas the under-bidder, an American, had intended to fully restore the remains into a working motor car.
475,000 Euros (£418,000) was available for a 1935 Hispano-Suiza T56 Torpedo and 398,000 Euros (£350,240) for a 1929 Mercedes-Benz 630K Chauffeur-Coupe. A world record breaking 398,000 Euros (£350,240) was paid for the 1970 Geneva Salon exhibited Monteverdi 450SS Hai Berlinetta and a similarly remarkable 189,000 Euros (£166,320) was invested in an admittedly stunningly restored 1971 Citroen DS21 Decapotable.
A 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 failed to sell for the 1,300,000 Euros (£1,144,000) floated and a 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica S1 with 800,000 Euros (£704,000) aspirations was another non-seller. Nor did a 1946 Maserati A6G 1500 Coupe attract the necessary 600,000 Euros (£528,000). Nor was the required 550,000 Euros (£484,000) bid for a 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 4th Series GS Spider and a 1953 Fiat 8V Coupe could not raise the desired 530,000 Euros (£468,400).
However, twenty of the twenty-seven cars consigned from The Andalusian Collection of Marbella did realise 3,175,000 Euros (£2,794,000). And even though seven rival auctions were in full swing across the Atlantic in Arizona during both the viewing and sale days in Paris, a truly international audience were nonethless magnetised to compete for the 98 cars on offer, 40 of them manufactured pre-WW2, both in the saleroom and via a bank of telephones.
With the Euro remaining strong and UK Sterling weak, it was those from the Eurozone who were generally successful and UK buyers were certainly in short supply. But some US players did venture onto this Eurozone pitch and a number of valuable cars are now destined for North American motor houses.
This was the third sale to be held by Bonhams at the annual Paris exhibition on what used to be Christie’s turf. And although the 59 per cent sale rate for cars (up to 75 per cent after automobilia had been included) was below the 84 per cent achieved by the international auctioneers at London’s Olympia in early December, the French house of Osenat only sold 51 per cent of the automobiles in their catalogue in the most recent French auction for classics which was held before Christmas.

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